Have
you been plagued with an employee injured on the
job whose doctor won’t return them to work
no matter how you offer to meet their restrictions?
Or they remain on permanent “restricted duties”.
If so, a transitional work program may work for
you.

Transitional WorkGRANT$ - A Success Story

“Incredible”
is how Cathy Opritza from Aerolite Extrusions described
their first experience with the transitional work
program.

The
BWC Transitional WorkGRANT$ program uses real job
duties to accommodate injured worker’s medical
restrictions for a specified time period to gradually
return them to their original job. To be eligible
for the grant employers must use a BWC accredited
transitional work developer to design an on-site
transitional work program for its injured workers.

“I
am so thankful CompOne recommended transitional
work and we had the program in place when (this
particular) injury occurred,” stated Cathy.
“It could have been a disastrous claim with
this IW sitting around with unreasonable restrictions,
no physician follow-up in sight and the IW doing
himself more harm than good sitting all day.”
The success of this story is based on the combined
achievements of Aerolite’s management, union
leaders and transitional work developer Don Harris
in conjunction with CompOne’s nurse case manager
Pam Webb and Dianne Lindsay, C.O.O. The transitional
work program includes job analysis, which clearly
defines physical capabilities needed to perform
each job.

“Our
main goal is to have a safe environment and to what
is right for our employees,” Ms. Oprtiza stated.
After consulting with Pam Webb, the IW armed with
his job analysis went immediately to his physician.
Cathy attributed much success of this story to the
providers knowledge of the program and his willingness
to work with the IW and Aerolite. “It was
phenomenal how it worked; everything just flowed.”

Contact
CompOne for information about the Transitional WorkGRANT$
program - it could be your new success story!

Why transitional work:
As noted above, transitional
work offers a safe, smooth transition back to regular
duty for the injured worker. This reduces the need
to hire or retrain temporary or new workers. It
helps keep the injured worker vocationally productive
thereby maintaining their self esteem. Having a
knowledgeable transitional work developer reduces
the injured worker’s fear of re-injury, and
the risk of re-injury

•
It improves your safety program and helps promote
a management labor team.

How
to get started: Contact your CompOne
representative. We will arrange a meeting with you
and a transitional work developer to answer your
questions and to discuss why transitional work can
work for you.

We
have partnered with select BWC certified transitional
work developers who have a high incidence of good
outcomes.

ational
Rehabilitation:

The
Bureau of Workers Compensation offers a program
designed to assist the Injured Worker in returning
to vocational productivity utilizing the hierarchy
for return to work:

•
same job - same employer
• different job - same employer
• same job - different employer
• different job - different employer

There
are criteria established by the BWC for eligibility
to participate in this program. Contact your nurse
case manager should this be a program you are interested
in.